Best Sports Cars of the 1980s and 1990s

[Clubber_Lang]

We will define 'best' as in
1. Best driving dynamics: ex. handling, fun factor and power to weight. And in
2. Durability and Reliabilty
Basic Criteria: must be able to be had with a manual transmision, must be a 2 seater or 2+2, and in this case, must be hardtop (yes i know that excludes the Miata, a great driving sports car in its own right. Also must be RWD or AWD.
Examples: Rx7, Supra, Mr2, Starion, Conquest, Corvette, Camaro, Mustang, 300zx, 240sx, Fiero, Ect.
Go!!

 

[Revving2Redline]

Ford Cosworth?

 

[Dyusik]

Big fan of the R34 skyline.

 

[xfactor9]

NSX

 

[weasley]

Originally Posted By: xfactor9
NSX


End of thread.

 

[Olas]

F40

 

[wemay]

Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4

 

[robertcope]

Miata has to be high on the list.

EDIT: I didn't see the arbitrary "must be a hardtop". Worthless list, now.

robert

 

[Egg_Head]

BMW E30 M3 1987-1992. Look up its racing history and success.

 

[Andrew1972]

Acura nsx. They are accord reliable...

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Egg_Head
BMW E30 M3 1987-1992. Look up its racing history and success.


Originally Posted By: wemay
Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4


Originally Posted By: Olas
F40


Agree with all these. I'd add the early 1990s Corvette ZR-1 and the mid 90's Toyota Supra twin turbo.

 

[Brasileno]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Egg_Head
BMW E30 M3 1987-1992. Look up its racing history and success.


Originally Posted By: wemay
Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4


Originally Posted By: Olas
F40


Agree with all these. I'd add the early 1990s Corvette ZR-1 and the mid 90's Toyota Supra twin turbo.


Beat me to it.

And I've owned an E30. Not an M3..

 

[aquariuscsm]

My car of course

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I would love a Skyline, a twin-turbo 300ZX, an NSX.

Perhaps a tuned-port-injection V8 Camaro?

 

[IndyIan]

That I want to own, even DD? The late 90's M3. That I'd like to borrow often, a mildly warmed up FD RX-7.

 

[ls1mike]

That is an awfully large time frame. You had some stuff like the 1989 Turbo Trans Am, The LS1 Corvette is in that time frame which bang for buck is pretty dang good. You had some LT4 cars. That is just some stuff from GM.
300ZK
NSX
Even LS1 F-bodies did pretty good, running low 13's and doing better in SCCA and the road course then some people here would like to admit.
3000 GT
RX-7
Seems I would pick my 80's favorites first
89 Turbo Trans Am
Mustang SVO
MR2
I liked the Shelby Dodge cars
GNX
The list is pretty big.

 

[Kamele0N]

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/756/Alfa-Romeo-155-V6-TI-DTM.html

 

[aquariuscsm]

Of all cars I've driven and/or owned,the 3000GT has the best driving ergonomics. Those cars are engineered so well and so precision.

 

[OneEyeJack]

I owned a first generation Supercharged MR2 that was a lot of fun to drive.

My choice though, would be the McLaren F1 from the 90's. No gadgets, no power steering, no ABS, no traction control, no navigation, no heated seats, just pure driving. It weighed less than a Mazda Miata and had more then 600 horsepower.

You did ask which one I thought was the best, not one that I could afford.

If it has to be something I could afford then it's back the the 1st gen SC MR2. At least it was bullet proof and never complained about hard driving. The only problem I remember was burping the cooling system and a clutch pedal that was not good for heavy stop and go traffic.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Of all cars I've driven and/or owned,the 3000GT has the best driving ergonomics. Those cars are engineered so well and so precision.



Agreed, this thing was really ahead of its time (VR4 and similar Stealth R/T). The specs are actually pretty impressive.